Monthly Archives: March 2015

“Bad Blood” SOTW DLC is in beta

greatwolf

I’ve decided to open the preorders and put the beta version of the DLC for download in my forums! For more details, you can check this forum thread:
http://winterwolves.net/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=3610

In short: the only missing thing right now are the ending scenes. There are 4 scenes, one for each romantic couple, plus another one (can’t say what because… spoilers!).

Speaking of spoilers, for those who have ALREADY finished the base game, this video illustrates the contents of the DLC:

Unfortunately like with Loren, I can’t really make a “demo” of the DLC, but I hope that the video above will help people to make their decision. In general, I think if you liked the characters and the story you should like the DLC too.

The DLC focuses more on the story and characters relationships, with several lines and even scenes that change depending on your love interest. Because of that we thought to add a menu at beginning of the DLC, so that once you played the story to the end, you can replay choosing the starting conditions quickly with the menu (without the need to start the game from beginning or keep a lot of different savegames).

Of course, there are still battles, and thanks to the main metagame of “rebuilding Ninim” also some strategy. Let me know your thoughts about the difficulty: I am not sure that in the current beta the game can be beaten in Nightmare mode… 🙂

If everything goes as planned I should get the missing images by mid-April, so that’s when I’ll release the DLC officially.

Work on the other games goes on as planned. I keep getting weekly updates for more or less all of them. I definitely want to have one of the dating sims in progress out during the Summer 😉

shiori_sybil

Also, Roger Steel writer made a very interesting post in my forums with an update about the game itself: http://www.winterwolves.net/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=3612

The bad news is that it won’t be out soon, the good news is that it will be much bigger and very similar in gameplay to Loren, with even a greater emphasis on choices and relationships. People who want, will be able to play it in pure visual novel mode, using choices to raise skills and fighting battles automatically 🙂

Heirs & Graces – Kamal

kamal

Time for another Heirs & Graces character introduction, this time the ex-gladiator Kamal. One of my favorite characters of this game 🙂

Before being employed by Lord Sandor, Kamal sought to make a name for himself fighting in the arena. He genuinely loved honing his skills and battling against powerful opponents; getting paid for it was nice too. If he had continued as a gladiator, Kamal could have easily become one of the best. However, after an incident in the Dingirra arena, Kamal’s feelings towards his job as a gladiator turned sour. He still appreciates a good fight, but he has no desire to return to the arena. Luckily, Kamal didn’t stay unemployed for long. Lord Sandor witnessed his last battle and decided to hire him on as a body guard.

As it turns out, Kamal isn’t exactly the ideal servant. He has a problem obeying orders from people he doesn’t respect and will outright refuse to serve nobles if they’re rude to him. This has caused a few incidents in the past, but Lord Sandor has no interest in firing him. If anything, this behavior only amuses him– though he’d never admit it while he’s keeping up appearences.

It does cause a bit of a headache for Lord Sandor’s butler, Vincent, though. To avoid incidents, Vincent has Kamal work outside where his interaction with nobles is at a minimum which is more than fine by Kamal. He enjoys spending long periods of time outside and has taken up an extra job as Lord Sandor’s gardener to help Vincent out. Though they may seem an unlikely pair, Kamal and Vincent are actually friends due in part to the fact that they’ve both worked for Lord Sandor longer than any of the other servants.

Kamal tends to keep his sentences short, but that doesn’t mean he dislikes company. He’s actually quite friendly and often perceives people’s needs before they need them. Kamal is almost always calm and laid back which may make him look lazy to some. However, that’s not really true. He gets everything done at his own pace and can put in a lot of hard work if it’s actually required. He just doesn’t see the need to rush.

In other news, today got the colored sketches of “Bad Blood” (the new SOTW DLC) CGs, so I think I will begin preorders next weekend! Stay tuned for more info 🙂

SOTW DLC “Bad Blood” coming soon

palisade

To paraphrase what Guard Captain Daronas says in the screenshot above: “I have good news. As we speak, the last segments of SOTW DLC code are just being placed” 😀

While of course there can still be bugs, I have tested the game already several times also with the help of the writer, and so far appears to be stable enough 🙂

I am still thinking if to open preorders and beta soon, like next weekend, or try to wait and see if some more art could be ready. The biggest thing missing are the new ending CGs, and is not a small thing. Of course you could still play/read it and save just before the CG… or replay them through the gallery. I got the sketches yesterday and artist said they’d be ready by mid-April, so maybe I could wait a bit.

Anyway, last week I coded the last battle of the whole game, against this funny guy:

giantgnoll

…and I must say that it was really a weird feeling doing it. Like placing the last stone on a house, or something like that. Sniff sniff, SOTW you’ll be sorely missed! 😉

A little burned out…

…or maybe not! Haha I already spoke in the past enough about SOTW and why in the end despite being my biggest/better game, it wasn’t worth it from commercial point of view. However another thing I didn’t consider, are the long term effects like the “burning out” that I’m suffering right now.

Being burned out after a project is absolutely normal. All the indies I spoke with, just take a break from work for 2-3 weeks or more after a game is out (except support, marketing, etc of course). But in my case ? Hmm I really have a hard time coding stuff even now, after months. Like I find a problem and my brain freeze, refuses to cooperate and I get stressed and grumpy.

And I am even taking it easy compared to my usual working schedule! so I think it was still a consequence of all the stress and work accumulated last year. The fatigue just doesn’t go away instantly, but takes time. Luckily apart SOTW DLC, the other games in progress don’t need much coding on my part 🙂

Some random news

I updated the work in progress thread in my forums with progress bars! 🙂 check here: http://www.winterwolves.net/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=3128
Of course is not like it is 100% accurate but maybe can give you an idea.

I got some preliminary scenes for the CYOA-style game I’m making, and it’s looking good.

I got the full Moirgane romance path for Queen Of Thieves! plus half of the otome one. If artist can keep it up (he finished redoing all the 3 sisters already), might be the next game I’ll be working on, depending how the new card battle framework is going.

Speaking of which, good progress has been made on that front too. There’s a basic framework working with already several mechanics implemented. I admit I borrowed a lot from Hearthstone, but also tried to add some new ideas, also because for story reason it will be different from Blizzard game, with cards that should last more and not be so easily destroyed.

Also, more writing for Nicole, Loren sequels, etc etc. I like when I get updates for all my games in a week 🙂 Stay tuned for a new character introduction for Heirs & Graces next Friday!

Heirs & Graces – Marcel

As some of you know already, I’m developing a yaoi-only dating sim since a few months. It’s fantasy, based on Aravorn, but without a RPG part. The main character is Marcel, pictured below:

marcel

So let’s discover more about Marcel, with the introduction by the writer:

Marcel is the only son of Lord Sandor, an extremely wealthy and powerful noble. While that should theoretically mean that Marcel grew up in a lavish environment having his every desire attended to, the reality of his situation couldn’t be further from it. Marcel may be the son of a noble but he is also his mother’s son and, as it goes, her social status is far beneath Lord Sandor’s. To save himself from scandal, Lord Sandor cut ties with Marcel’s mother when she told him she was pregnant. To make matters worse for the young mother, Maura’s parents cast her out and she was forced to try her luck elsewhere. Her disgrace followed her, making it nearly impossible for her to hold down a respectable job and eventually she had to resort to smuggling and taking advantage of men to make ends meet. Though she tried to keep Marcel out of it, he eventually took up stealing. The situation wasn’t ideal, but it allowed them to live.

By working together, the two of them were eventually able to pull themselves out of poverty. Maura now works as a tailor’s assistant and Marcel has had a few short term jobs in the past. This has done wonders for their stability, but their rocky start has made Marcel a bit cynical. He knows that things can work out, but he also thinks it’s stupid to assume they will. Marcel is able to interact normally with others, but he’s careful not to expect too much from them. After all, if you never placed your faith in someone in the first place it’ll hurt less when they betray you. This line of thinking combined with what his mother went through has led Marcel to swear of romance all together. He refuses to put himself into a situation where he gives someone that much power over him.

While Marcel tends to be overly cautious, he does occasionally take a risk. The biggest one to date is applying to work as Lord Sandor’s servant. He knows it’s a bad idea and he knows he should just walk away, but curiosity has gotten the better of him. While he doesn’t want Lord Sandor to know anything about him, Marcel does want to see the old man for himself just once. Why? Well, even Marcel hasn’t quite figured that out.

I’ll keep posting about this game and the other characters in the next weeks. The game is still in development but is at good point (all the art is finished) so might even be out later this year 🙂

SOTW DLC “Bad Blood” progress update

fox

This week made very good progress: the coding is almost done, and I’m only missing a few art, including the new ending CGs, which should be finished by mid-April.

I’m currently thinking if to allow the preorders and testing towards end of month even if the ending CGs would still be missing (but just that). Anyway I will obviously announce it on the social networks, blog and newsletter when the game is ready 🙂